Posted on 04/10/2009 2:35:54 PM PDT by lewisglad
Maritime officials in east Africa say Somali pirates are sending several hijacked ships carrying dozens of hostages to the site of a standoff with the U.S. Navy over American captive, captain Richard Phillips.
Capt. Richard Phillips of Underhill, Vt., is seen in this family photo released on 08 Apr 2009 The officials say the pirates, who are holding Phillips on a lifeboat, are apparently trying to use the other hostages as shields. The lifeboat is being trailed by a U.S. warship, the USS Bainbridge.
The pirates have threatened to kill Phillips if they are attacked. They are demanding a ransom for his release.
Phillips has been held since Wednesday when hijackers briefly seized control of the humanitarian cargo ship he captained.
The French government, which was dealing with its own standoff against Somali pirates, said Friday that one hostage and two pirates were killed as French forces freed a yacht carrying French nationals off Somalia. Meanwhile, a Norwegian ship and its international crew were released. Pirates were quoted as saying they had received a ransom payment from the ship's owners.
Concerning the U.S. standoff, President Barack Obama refused to answer questions about it Friday, but other White House officials have said they are working toward a peaceful solution. Both the FBI and U.S. Navy are conducting negotiations with the pirates.
Pentagon officials say another Navy ship, the Halyburton, which is equipped with helicopters, has also arrived in the area.
A pirate is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying they are seeking $2 million.
Earlier Friday, U.S. military officials said the captured American captain tried to escape the lifeboat he is now being held on by jumping into the sea. But they say he was recaptured by the pirates. One of them is reported to have fired a weapon during the foiled escape.
Somalia's transitional federal government has condemned the increased piracy and called for the unconditional release of the American captain.
I’m sorry, it’s on the updated list.... (I didn’t see which one you were looking at...)...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2226437/posts?page=43#43
Maybe we should just give them their 2 million dollars. In quarters. With a couple of hudred pounds of C4 in middle of it.
Today the fleet is micromanaged from half way around the world. The Barbary Pirates were dispatched at the commander's initiative, iirc.
The ship owner on Fox Friday said in his case he chartered a plane and the money was put in a bag and tossed out with a parachute at the designated spot over the ocean. All in cash.
Who was that, guess I've forgotten that bit.
This must be the heavy testing Joe Biden warned us about. ;^(
You said — This must be the heavy testing Joe Biden warned us about. ;^(
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LOL... that ain’t the “half of it”... take a look at the updated list... :-)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2226437/posts?page=43#43
After looking at that — and especially Reagan’s term — Obama looks like he’s sleep-walking, in terms of “being tested”.... LOL...
Breaks my heart to know we’ve got an abject coward and feckless terrorist enabler infecting the White House who lacks the balls to even stand up to a bunch of uneducated, slack jawed, mohammedan pirates.
We’re in for a long hard winter.
I disagree with the inclusion of the Liberty — The Liberty was sited in an active war zone, conducting reconnaissance. Despite being a “neutral” it was a legitimate target, depending on nothing more than the mood of a commander in the field. Why? Because it was super-fast developing war zone. A commander in such a circumstance has no time to make political decisions. Uncertainties are resolved in favor of preserving his own forces.
Also you should include the Achille Lauro by the PLO faction PLF under Mohammed Abbas. The Hijacked Achille Lauro was shadowed by the USS Scott as it wandered through the Med. Reagan had Delta and Six sent to intercept the PLF men, once the hijackers gave themselves over to the Italians. There was a international confrontation between Italian forces and our Special Forces, and G-d save us all, Reagan had the special ops men stand down and we let Abbas get away. Abbas came to work under Saddam the Iraqi Hussein.
But Abbas got what he wanted — he killed a disabled Jew during the hijacking. That counts a whole lot among those creeps.
He went on to plan and fund and coordinate many more murders under Hussein, President of Iraq. Mostly suicide bombings by children raised to be human bombs by the perverted Palestinians. Those murdered by such bombs include Americans. He was captured by US Forces on 15 April 2003 and died 11 months later.
I wonder if our US interrogators questioned him about how he felt about the attack on the USS Liberty. I’m sure Abbas has kindred spirits among those who keep that perpetual grudge flame burning.
Yeah, I went back and forth on the USS Liberty, but I finally did include it. The US wasn’t in the war, it wasn’t party to it and it was a big “incident” and not a “war” for the U.S. So, since it wasn’t a war (and thus it wouldn’t go into a “war list” [if there was one...]) — that would leave it only for this list — or it would go nowhere...
And, there are a lot of people out there, who are thinking that it should go in there. You never can have everything fit perfectly into categories...
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Okay, about the Achille Lauro, I’ll have to look up the information and get it ready. At this point in time, although I updated the list several times in one day, yesterday, I’ll try to space it out, now that the list is at the size it is. It may be a couple of days. But, I’ll keep the list going because I think it’s quite informative.
Thanks for the information that you’ve suggested...
David Belfield. He went on to become a translator and an actor in Iran, even admitted assassinating Ali Tabatabai on camera in a TV interview.
Source for David Bayfield...Andre Pachter in an email to me.
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